- Track website traffic and user behavior on your Drupal 8 site using Google Analytics.
- Install and configure the Google Analytics module to seamlessly integrate with your GA account and gain valuable insights.
For any website administrator, the number of visitors is the most important number of all. For many people, this is the only number that really matters. Traffic on a website and other related metrics are extremely useful indicators of the popularity of a website. Using Google Analytics for Drupal 8 can be the perfect solution.
Google Analytics is one of the best tools for measuring and analyzing traffic on a website. This all-purpose tool provides real-time updates about the number of visitors on your website. In addition, Google Analytics provide very detailed information about the visitors, including where they are from and how much time they have spent on individual web pages. In its reports, Google Analytics could track and present hundreds of visitor-focused parameters.
In this tutorial, I will take you through the process of setting up Google Analytics on Drupal 8 website. While embedding Google Analytics on a standard website is a pretty straight-forward process, things could get a bit complicated in the case of a feature-rich CMS Drupal.
What is Google Analytics with Drupal?
Drupal, at its core, is a content management system (CMS), meaning that it gives you the tools to structure and oversee your content. It also allows you to construct adaptable content publishing workflows and all sorts of dynamic features around that content.
Drupal analytics give simple built-in JavaScript tracking inclusion/exclusion by page, client parts, and particular clients. It’ll also be pluggable, so you can utilize the same tracking settings over elective analytics services/sub-modules like Google Analytics.
Google Analytics with Drupal is the foremost popular tool for tracking your web page visits, utilized by millions of websites worldwide. Integration with Google statistics is the basic and essential function of each CMS, which implies it is additionally accessible in Drupal – you’ll be able to empower it with the google_analytics module.
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Step 1: Log in to Google Analytics
The very first thing you need to do is add your Drupal website to Google Analytics. For this, log into the Google Analytics account.
Step 2: Add Your Drupal Website to Google Analytics
After filling in all the details, click the Get Tracking ID button. This will bring you to the next screen, where you will receive the tracking ID and the script to embed into your website. Leave the tab open!
Step 3: Log in to Your Drupal Website
Once you are done with the Google Analytics website, log in to your Drupal website using the admin credentials.
Step 4: Install the Google Analytics Module
Go to the Google Analytics module page, install it, and enable it. Make sure you select the Drupal 8 version of the module for your Drupal 8 website.
Step 5: Get the Tracking ID of Your Website
Go back to the Google Analytics tab and copy the Tracking ID from the Property Settings tab.
Step 6: Configure the Google Analytics Module
Now go back to your Drupal website and configure the Google Analytics module by following the steps below:
- Navigate to Configuration > Google Analytics.
- Paste the Tracking ID you got from the Google Analytics account in the field for Web Property ID.
- Set additional settings and save the configuration.
- The Google Analytics setup is now complete.
Step 7: Test the Installation
To test the installation, go to your Google Analytics account. Click the real-time tab and select Overview. In the case of successful Google Analytics installation and setup, you will see the traffic statistic for your Drupal website.
Conclusion: Start Tracking Your Visitors
The real power of Drupal lies in its very optimized utilization of modules. As you can see from the steps in this tutorial, what would have been a complex installation procedure is made extremely simple by the module that adds Google Analytics on Drupal 8. If you found this blog post useful, you might like to check out another post by us on: Speed Up Drupal Websites With Google AMP. a topic intertwined with the efficacy of Drupal hosting. For queries or feedback, don’t hesitate to share your thoughts in the comments section.
Q. Can you use Google Analytics on Drupal?
Yes, you can integrate Google Analytics with Drupal using the Google Analytics module. Doing so will let you track visitor behavior, traffic sources, and user interactions seamlessly.
Q. How do I configure Google Analytics on Drupal?
Follow the steps below to configure Google Analytics on Drupal:
Install the Google Analytics module
Go to Extend
Search for Google Analytics → Install.
Sign in to Google Analytics and copy your Measurement ID (GA4) or Tracking ID (UA).
Go to Configuration → Google Analytics and paste your tracking ID.
Adjust tracking preferences and click Save Configuration to apply changes.
Q. How to add Google Analytics tracking code to a Drupal site?
Here’s how you can add Google Analytics tracking code to a Drupal site:
Copy the Google Analytics tracking script from your GA account
Paste the script into your site’s HTML head via the theme’s html.tpl.php or a custom block.
Add your GA tracking code via GTM.
And that’s it.
Does Google Analytics tracking slow down your website?
No, Google Analytics is lightweight and does not significantly impact site speed. However, using asynchronous loading (gtag.js) and optimizing scripts can further minimize any performance impact.
Inshal Ali
Inshal is a Content Marketer at Cloudways. With background in computer science, skill of content and a whole lot of creativity, he helps business reach the sky and go beyond through content that speaks the language of their customers. Apart from work, you will see him mostly in some online games or on a football field.
